So, to celebrate the 100+ reviews, I have decided to have a contest. The contest is what reference from Earth Abigail will make. It can be any reference like a Movie, stereotype, celebrity, anything you guys and galls can think of! Just Private Message me (or if you know me, Facebook me) and I'll print all the potential references out and put them in a hat. The winner will be announced in the next chapter and their name will be put up in this little box here! Good luck everyone. If you have more than one reference you want to put in, 4 each is the limit! Love you all!

I want to give a quick shout out to assShadow50 for telling me that I had put up chapter 27 twice! Oops! Thanks so much. I was able to fix this fairly early because of your help!

Bioware copyrighted. Like The Hobbit to Mr. Tolkien

Snippets in Shadows

I was dreaming, that was the only explanation for what I was seeing. It felt different; I hadn't dreamt since before the battle at Ostagar, and it had not ever been like what I was experiencing. The image was much sharper then a normal dream, and I could literally feel the seat I was sitting on and the nasty smell violated my nose.

The smell was from memories of subways, of which I was on. It was dirty and looked like the one I had been on during my New York trip. The darkness in the windows and the sound of the whistling wind slowed as the subway did, stopping at a terminal. I calmly watched as the doors opened and Amber came in to sit across from me. We waved at each other and waited as the subway continued on its journey.

"I saw a picture of you," Amber started to sing, "hanging in an empty hallway."

"How appropriate, but your about six months late on that on. I'm okay now…sort of," I told her. The song was on of the first that I had written down in my "notebook". Most of them were a bit depressing at the start.

She frowned, but continued. "I heard a voice that I knew, and I couldn't walk away."

In continuation with our face expressions, I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously though, please stop. I have a big problem and your "happy go lucky" song isn't helping."

The subway was no longer dark, suddenly coming out of the ground, but instead of the New York skyline, massive trees flew by the windows.

Amber blew a tantrum. "You are so totally lame! All this time you have been trying to remember, but what about actually singing? Or better yet, trying to come home!"

"I can't come home," I explained, trying desperately to make her understand. "I have to stop the Blight."

She just narrowed here eyes at me. The train stated slowing down, almost the exact moment I started to feel a dark pulse in my blood.

"Amber, where are we going?"

"You have to promise me that you will do more not to forget!" She stood as the subway came to a stop. "What If your stupid papers catch fire or something? They aren't going to last forever."

I felt like she had punched me in the chest. "What am I supposed to do? I suck at memorizing things."

She snorted. "Suck at memorizing things. Are you on crack? I have seen you remember pages of music from stuff you learned when you were twelve!"

"I started when I was fifteen," I pointed out.

"Whatever. My point is that you need to start believing in yourself. Not just to hold on to us, but to hold on to yourself to make sure you win!" She jabbed a finger at me for good measure.

With that, she turned to the doors, leaving me in a stunned state. The growing strength of the taint brought me back.

"Amber, don't go outside. It isn't safe."

"Don't lose," she said absent mindedly.

The doors opened and the stench of death overpowered the slight smell of urine. Amber walked out, ignoring my warnings that turned into yelling. Before I could run after her, darkspawn filled the subway, the only sound of my screams echoing in the space.

My eyes flew open as I woke up, my breathing very ragged. After I realized I was going to be okay, I curled up into the fetal position and tried to calm down. Helíos must have felt my fear because he came over and gave my face a gentle nudge. I sat up and hugged him, feeling much better.

"Bad dreams, huh?" Alistair's voice drifted into my ears.

I looked up through the war hounds short fur to see him at the remnants of last night's fire. It was still dark, but red from behind my partner Warden told me sunrise would be very soon. He looked at me thoughtfully while he waited for my answer.

"Yes, it was terrifying," I confessed.

"It's part of being a Grey Warden," he explained grimly. "Being able to hear the darkspawn. That's what your dream was. Hearing them. The Archdemon…it "talks" to the horde, and we feel it just as they do. That's why we know this is really a Blight."

Helíos sat down beside me with a grunt, I pet his giant head in response. "So, I have to deal with these dreams for the rest of my life?"

Alistair shook his head. "It takes a bit, but eventually you can block the dreams out. Some of the older Grey Wardens say they can understand the Archdemon a bit but I sure can't. Anyhow, when I heard you thrashing around, I thought I should tell you. It was scary at first for me too."

I almost said "What?". He just admitted that he was scared. It was something that wasn't understood, but it still caught me off guard. No man I had ever known would have said that to me, even Mike. It was refreshing to see someone willing to be honest like that. I decided there that Alistair and I were going to be good friends. Sure he joked around a lot, but he wasn't full of crap.

"Thank you," I said.

He smiled. "That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one liners. Anyhow, you're up now right? Lets pull up camp and get a move on."

I packed up my things and was feeding Helíos when Leliana trotted over. "Abigail-"

"Please call me Abby. I'm not really the formal type."

"Alright, Abby," she corrected. "The dwarves that we meet yesterday, they are at the edge of the camp, and they wish to speak with you." She showed me where exactly the "edge of the camp" was.

"I'll try not to make a fool of myself again," I winked. "And by the way, good morning."

She grinned. "Good morning. Looks like we shall be having nice traveling weather."

"Perfect," I called back as I made my way to where she had pointed to

"Morning Morrigan!" I yelled. The witch just shook her head in disapproval at me.

I found the dwarves, it was kind of hard to miss because of the wagon being pulled be the Clydesdale like horse, and the fact that Sten was towering over them.

"Thank you Sten," I tried to command, hoping my head wasn't going to be detached from my body by the comment. "I'll take it from here."

The kossith blinked, and then walked away. At least I'm not dead. This is good!

"Ah," Bodahn clapped his hands together. "It is good to see you, my timely rescuer! Bodahn Feddic at your service once again." He seemed much happier that I was here then when Sten was. I couldn't blame him. "I saw your camp and thought to myself, 'What safer place to rest for the evening than in the camp of a Grey Warden? I'm perfectly willing to offer you a fine discount for the inconvenience of our presence. How does that sound? Good? Yes?"

"What exactly do you sell?"

"Anything and everything a woman of your persuasion would need on the road. Armour, weapons, potions, crafting supplies, the list is endless. My son also enchants any battle equipment, if you have the runes for it. He's a bit simple, but he does seem to enjoy it. One of those Tranquil fellows actually called him a…what was it now? A savant? I had no idea such a thing existed."

"Enchantment!" the boy said excitedly. He jumped up and down and clapped his hands together.

His enthusiasm sold me. "Welcome aboard Bodahn."

"Say," Alistair asked slowly. "Having any luck?"

I was staring at the map that Leliana had produced for me. It had taken me a few minutes to get use to the different geography, and the fact that the map probably wasn't exact. That left me a little confused.

"I think so…" I even sounded confused. "Redcliffe looks closer."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, technically both the Circle and Redcliffe are the same distance, give or take a day. I would have thought you would want to go to the Circle first anyways, to try to figure out why you can detect magic."

"That's a great idea. Maybe they can teach me to turn it off or something."

"Great! I'll tell the others." He visibly relaxed and went in the direction of the eating group.

That was weird.

I rolled up the map and put it in my pack. Grabbing my brand new cloak-courtesy of Bodahn-my hand brushed on a different type of parchment. I grabbed the notebook and pulled it out gently, admiring the cover I had made out of wood and rabbit skins. It wasn't bound, so it was more of a folder. At last count, over three hundred songs had been scribbled down. I knew it was a feat, but I needed more. Fate and time were my enemies.

I opened it up. Sure enough, Sleepwalker by Adam Lambert looked up at me on the first page. Looking over the lyrics, I sighed. I will remember Amber, I promise. With that, I put the collection away, and joined everyone for breakfast.